I mean always follow planned route kinda goes counter to the whole point of navigating with Google Maps. Google Maps uses live traffic data and user reports to

I mean always follow planned route kinda goes counter to the whole point of navigating with Google Maps. Google Maps uses live traffic data and user reports to determine the best route. I don't see why they would add these features and then offer an option to just ignore those features and instead use a fixed route. There are many other apps that offer that. Even just downloading a paper map off Mapquest would accomplish that similar goal. I think we all know by now Google goes for the simply route that asks the least of a user. Google is well known for not providing much customization and basically forcing you to use it a certain way. And clearly this model works with the popularity they have. I know us powerusers don't always like this kind of thing, but for regular users this is the way that seems to work best.